yarny bookworm

Freitag, 6. Mai 2016

IDear Readers,summer has arrived. FINALLY! After being gloomy and rainy and grey and cold, the sun has finally decided to show herself and to stay. It's warm, it's nice, the sky is blue and people are more happy and relaxed. I love the summer. It's my favourite time of the year. There's a reason why I have a huge Sun Mandala tattooed on my back! ;)

Anyway, with the warmer temperatures the first regional strawberries have arrived in the supermarket and I took some time yesterday (it was a holiday in Austria and I didn't had to work) to make an old family favourite: A strawberry joghurt cake. It's easy and quick to make, not too sweet and really fruity and refreshing. Perfect for eating it outside, with naked feet and the sun shining in your face.

Dienstag, 3. Mai 2016

I'm not going to start this post again with stating the fact, that April ran by way too fast! Instead I'll instantly start with my summary. Here we go!LIFE:We received the first offers for the changes we want to make at our house. The price meet our expectations, so we didn't suffer any negative surprises there. As soon as my husband has a day off, we will visit the construction site. The outside of the house is finished (they just need to finish the facade) and they already started to work on the inside. My husband thinks that we will move this year, I think that we will be able to live in our own house by next spring. Be that as it may - we are more than excited!//Die ersten Angebote für unsere Änderungswünsche sind so eingetrudelt und sind nicht höher, als von uns geschätzt. Also hier gibts schon mal keine bösen Überraschungen - zum Glück! Sobald der Liebste mal wieder frei hat, werden wir eine Baustellenbesichtigung machen. Der Rohbau steht, der Innenausbau ist bereits in vollem Gange und man kann jede Woche eine Veränderung sehen. Der Mann denkt, dass wir noch heuer umziehen werden - ich rechne eher erst nächsten Frühling damit. So oder so - wir freuen uns!We visited my sister in law for a short weekend as our oldest nephew turned nine. NINE YEARS! He's so big already and right now in the middle of a defiance phase and a little difficult. But I still enjoyed the two days off and the fact, that we sat together till way after midnight and just talked and laughed and had fun.//Wir waren wieder zu Besuch bei meiner Schwägerin in Salzburg, weil unser großer Neffe NEUN wurde. Unglaublich, wie groß der schon ist. Und momentan befindet er sich in einer vorpubertären Phase und ist dezent schwierig. Trotzdem war's toll mal alle wiederzusehen und bis weit in die Nacht zu quatschen und zu lachen! CRAFT:My crochet mojo is slowly coming back after being absent for quite a while. I finally finished the little lamb that just needed eyes stitched on and two ears. I immediately started a new projectand have a million ideas inside my head!//Meine Häkelmotivation ist wieder da! Endlich. Nach einer gefühlten Ewigkeit hab ich endlich mein Lämmchen fertig gemacht (haben ja nur noch die Augen und Ohren gefehlt) und gleich sofort mit einem neuen Projekt angefangen. Ich arbeite gerade an einem Sommerpulli!

a new Lupo!

SPORT:It's reaaaally hard for me to motivate me to go for a run, although I'm still making progress. I managed to run for 6.5 kms last week and I never managed to run that far!I bought new sport shoes this weekend, maybe this will help. I'm still ahead of my running goal for this year, let's see if that motivation's coming back soon. At least I can force myself to go for at least one run a week.//Momentan fehlt's mir echt an Motivation und das, obwohl ich mich mit jedem Lauf steigern kann. Letzte Woche hab ich 6.5 Kilometer geschafft, so viel wie noch nie! Ich hab mir letzte Woche neue Sportschuhe zugelegt, vielleicht helfen die ja. Immerhin bin ich meinem Jahreslaufziel immer noch voraus.

slightly ahead of my running goal!

BOOKS:I finished Game of Thrones. Finally. Though I love the books and the plot and the characters, the fourth and the fifth volume were a little tiresome to read.I managed to read 4 books since and I'm currently in the middle of the fifth one.After not buying any books for a few months now, I got myself this baking book: It's called Sugar Orgasm and it is written by three women, who opened the "Guerilla bakery" in Vienna. They started with "pop up bakeries" - every two month they opened a little bakery for one afternoon in a abandoned building or an empty appartment in Vienna. That concept proved to be so successful that they opened a real bakery a few months ago and published this book. A colleague of mine ordered it and as I flipped through it I knew, that I HAD to have this book. Can't wait to try out my first recipe from it, I'll keep you posted!//Ich bin endlich mit Game of Thrones fertig. Obwohl ich die Geschichte und Personen liebe haben sich die letzten beiden Bände dann doch seeeeehr gezogen. Seither hab ich gleich vier Bücher gelesen und bin grad mitten im Fünften. Nachdem ich seit Mitte Dezember keine neuen Bücher mehr gekauft habe, bin ich jetzt wieder schwach geworden. "Zucker Orgasmus" von der Guerilla Bakery ist's geworden. Drei Schwestern haben in Wien "Pop Up Bakeries" eröffnet, das Konzept kam so gut an, dass sie jetzt eine Bäckerei/Caféhaus eröffnet haben und dazu ein Backbuch veröffentlicht. Eine Kollegin hat sich das Buch bestellt und nach kurzem Durchblättern wusste ich - das muss ich haben! Ich freu mich schon auf's Ausprobieren und werde dann berichten!

Donnerstag, 28. April 2016

I really need to reduce my yarn stash and I really need to crochet something else than amigurumis. Don't get me wrong, I love making my little cute lalylala dolls and I love the fact that people order them from me to gift them to their nieces/nephews/friends/kids/cousins etc. But I've been making almost nothing else for weeks now and I'm yearning to create something different!I really like the website of Drops Design to get some inspiration and to get some new patterns! I own some Drops yarn and so far I always had positive experiences with it.I also made three different garments based on Drops patterns (this, this and this) and I love to wear all of them!For my wedding (we just had our first anniversary, how crazy is that??) I made myself this shawl and every single item was quick and easy to make and I never had trouble following the instructions.Crochet clothes are very in right now. It's this whole boho-hippie-gipsy-chique that makes those clothes so trendy. So I put two and two together.- Hip clothes- need of reducing my yarn stash- being able to crochet- want to make something for myselfI found some new patterns online and decided on two of them. For those items I have all the necessary yarn already at home so no new shopping is needed (sadly!).I chose:this sweater

Bildunterschrift hinzufügen

I have some deep red Safran Yarn at home, this should be perfect for this little summer sweaterand this sweater

As you can see, I really have a thing for those kind of pullovers - with holes in it and the ones, where you have to put a shirt underneath. But those are perfect for those slightly chilly summer nights (which hopefully will be there soon!)While browsing through the patterns I also found this cute beach bag and this adorable skirt.I'm thinking about alternating between making an amigurumi and making things purely for myself. I lost my crochet-mojo in the past few weeks and it's slowly coming back to me. So let's see how many projects will make the way from an idea to a real piece of clothing. I vaguely remember a similar post from last year. Let's just say that I made ONE thing from that long list.

Well.

Better than nothing!

What are your crochet projects for the summer? Do you crochet yourself clothes as well? Or do you rather stick to blankets and toys?

Mittwoch, 27. April 2016

It's been a while since I wrote my last "taking stock" post. As I do love making lists, I really adore writing up these posts. Thanks to Pip for providing the list!

Making : NOTHING! My crochet mojo has been absent these last few weeks, but I'm determined to wake it up again!
Cooking :stew and soups and warming food. It's still so cold here in Austria, today it's grey and wet and gloomy. My body craves some comfort food! Drinking : Hot tea. I need as much warmth as I can get!
Reading: Everything after 5 books of Game of Thrones! I haven't bought any new books, though, as I don't want to have tooo many new books before we're moving next year.
Wanting: Warmth and sunshine and spring. I hate this cold weather!
Looking: at kitchens. We're currently in the process of buying a kitchen and we're totally overwhelmed with the options and the prices. They are so expensive!
Playing: With yarn color combinations. I need a lot of colors with this bad weather outside!
Deciding: on a kitchen. and a bathroom. and bathroom tiles. and a new bed and new matresses. all house related stuff.
Wishing: for spring to come!
Enjoying: life right now. Everything runs really great at the moment. I hope this conditions will last for a while!
Waiting: for the weekend. It's supposed to be nice and warm and my husband doesn't has to work.
Liking: the fact that I can't wait to pick up my crochet hook again tonight!
Wondering: if it's the right time to have a baby...
Loving: life.
Buying:A new bikini. Though it will take some time to be finally able to wear it!
Watching: Suits. How sexy is Harvey Specter? I have a huge crush on that guy!Hoping: that my mum will get better soon. She tripped yesterday and broke her arm! :(
Cringing: at the thought of burn out. So many people I know are currently suffering from it. I don't like the direction in which this society is going!
Needing: a fresh cup of tea. Finished the third one already today!
Smelling: rain.
Wearing: Many, many layers of clothes as it's way too cold outside!
Following: Some new cooking and baking blogs. I'm really into baking right now!
Noticing: babies, children and pregnant women everywhere! What does that say about me?
Knowing: that work will be a lot less stressful in the next few weeks
Thinking: about all the trips we're going to make once the weather gets better!
Admiring: people who manage to keep their motivation for running! I'm already behind my 2016 running goal. Need to get back on track!
Sorting: through my books. I don't want to take them all with me when we move next year.
Getting: new things from Lush! Do you know Lush? They have the nices cosmetics!
Bookmarking:crochet patterns. I really want to start selling my stuff 2016.Still.Disliking: guess what? The weather!Feeling: tired. we really need a new mattress, none of us is able to get a good nights sleep, which makes us grumpy and tired all the time
Snacking: apples.Hearing:

my husband already claimed this little monkey for him. He wants to hang him onto his Harley!

I have to make two other amigurumis for a friend before I can start diving into these books (and my yarn stash) and so I put it on my crochet book pile. And then I noticed that this pile is rather high. (Not counting the two books that I currently lend to my mother!).And then I shamefully noticed, that all those books are untouched. I never made a single thing from them.//Ich muss noch zwei Auftragsarbeiten erledigen (die mich grad irgendwie so gar nicht freuen) und dann kann ich endlich loslegen. Zu meiner großen Schande muss ich gestehen dass ich - bis auf eine Tasche - noch GAR NICHTS aus diesen Büchern gehäkelt habe. Das muss sich doch ändern!

crochet bags

i love this one!

And that has to change.

that's a project I'm saving for later this year. My little niece will get that doll for christmas!

it has 45 (!) outfits and accessories, so you can change the doll into a farmer...

Dienstag, 5. April 2016

I know, I'm soooo late on that trend, but my sister in law gifted me a coloring book for grown ups for my birthday and I sat down last Sunday to try it out.

What can I say, it took me about 3 hours (interrupted by making tea and eating chocolate) to finish my first coloring. I used to LOVE coloring out Mandalas when I was a kid and I remember that I had several Mandala books and spent hours with them.

I wouldn't have bought such a book by myself, but I really like it and I think, that I will come back at it from time to time to relax and spend a little colorful time at home without having to think.

Sonntag, 3. April 2016

It's getting ridiculous, but the first sentence that comes to mind, when I'm writing these summary posts is: How can another month have passed so fast??? How can time fly by? How can it be that it's APRIL already? But it IS April, and time HAS passed and so I'm sitting here to reflect and remember the past thirty days.LIFE:Things are moving on the house front. My husband and I started to visit several furniture stores and kitchen stores to get a plan for our new kitchen. It took us a while to come to an agreement regarding the looks of the kitchen, but we finally found one that we both like. We're still waiting for the offer. It definitely will be expensive, but we want to buy a good kitchen and we're ready to invest some money!My sister in law visited us with our family for a few days. I haven't seen them since Christmas as they live in a different part of Austria. It was great to see them all again - especially my little niece. When I saw her last she was 6 months old and wasn't able to sit by herself. She always toppled over. Now she cralws and is able to pull herself up on the furniture. It's amazing how fast these little people learn and grow! And of course for days after my husband couldn't talk about anything else but babies. He would really be ready to have one but I think we will wait for a while with that! ;)Schön langsam tut sich was beim Haus. Im März waren wir schon in Möbelhäusern und Küchenstudios um uns unsere Traumküche planen zu lassen. Es hat ein wenig gedauert bis wir uns auf das Aussehen einigen konnten, aber mittlerweile haben wir eine ziemlich klare Vorstellung darüber, wie unsere Traumküche aussehen soll. Wird zwar nicht ganz billig, aber wir sparen schon ganz fleißig und uns ist es auch wichtig, dass wir gleich von Anfang an eine hochwertige Küche haben. Das kostet dann halt auch.Letzte Woche war meine Schwägerin + Familie zu Besuch. Zuletzt sah ich alle zu Weihnachten. Es war schön, sie wieder da zu haben. Vor allem war's nett, meine Nichte Lea wieder zu sehen. Seit Weihnachten ist sie ja schon ordentlich gewachsen. Damals kippte sie immer noch nach vorne über, wenn sie alleine sitzen wollte. Heute zieht sie sich schon an den Möbeln hoch und krabbelt in Windeseile durch die ZImmer. Unglaublich, wie schnell sich die Kids entwickeln! Der Babybesuch hat natürlich meinen Mann wieder dazu gebracht, über Nachwuchs zu reden. Er wäre schon so weit. Aber ich glaub, ich bin noch nicht so ganz bereit dafür.CRAFT:To be honest - I didn't do any crochet this past few weeks. I finished little Josefine to hand her over to my niece. She squealed with joy when she saw here and laughed a lot but I forgot to take some pictures. I will hand them in later ;)The weather is finally nice and warm outside so I don't spend much time at home with my crochet hook. I really want to change that in April though. There is a little lamb that I have to finish for a friend and my husband gave me the most amazing amigurumi books for my birthday in March. I'm really looking forward to try those things out. A review of these books will follow as well, I'm already working on several posts.

by now my little lamb has all two hands and already a part of its head

my pile of birthday gifts including my new amigurumi books!

Im März war ich total häkelfaul. Ich hab lediglich Josefine fertig gemacht, weil ich sie Lea persönlich übergeben wollte. Die kleine Maus hat sich auch total darüber gefreut und gleich mal herzhaft losgequietscht, als sie den rosa Drachen gesehen hatte. Leider hab ich vergessen, die Übergabe zu fotografieren. Mir wurde aber versprochen, dass ich noch Fotos zum Nachreichen bekomme. Diese Woche werd ich auch noch ein Auftragsschaf fertighäkeln. Mein Mann hat mir zu meinem Geburtstag ein paar tolle Amigurumi Bücher geschenkt und ich kann es schon gar nicht mehr erwarten, endlich mal ein paar Tiere davon nachzuhäkeln. Rezensionen über diese Bücher hab ich auch schon in Arbeit, die folgen dann so nach und nach.SPORT:Motivation got me again. I use the runtastic app to track my running. I wasn't running very often in 2016. Now you can set yourself a running goal for the year and runtastic tells you, how many kilometres you have to run every week to fulfill this goal. I set myself the goal of 300 kilometers. I ran 25 so far and until now I'm ahead of my running goal. I have to say that this feature is highly motivating and I can't wait to go for my next run - although I've just been running today!I started with regular homeworkouts as well. I'm nearly able to do a push-up. My arms are my weakest part of the body and I really want to work on them. Just for myself, because I want to prove myself that I'm able to keep being determined!